Maine's trans population is too thinly scattered and in some cases too wary of publicity to comprise an effective lobby, so EQME's organizing chops were crucial in defeating the legislation. To use myself as an example: I first learned about LD 1046 because I am on the organization's e-mail list from back when I canvassed for "No On 1," then there was a phone bank I could help at, and then a series of strategy meetings, and then the opportunity to go to Augusta to testify . . . all orchestrated by EQME. And I wasn't the only one. Dozens of trans folk from all over Maine testified at the hearing.

Ultimately, in a twist of novelistic neatness, the defeat of LD 1046 came back down to the power of personal narrative — in fact, one of the same trans-stories that had sparked it. Nicole, the trans girl at the heart of the Orono case (she is now 13), and her father worked the halls of the State House for days, lobbying individual lawmakers, bringing them face to face with the vulnerable and moving reality of trans experience. "Her courage was unmatched," says Vander Zanden.

Supportive connections

Another illustration of the evolution of trans in Maine is the birth and swift growth of Maine Trans Net, the state's first and so far only statewide trans-support organization. Maine Trans Net was founded by Alex Roan, a trans man, in 2007, after his online searches for local support and information during his own gender transition proved mostly fruitless. There were a few trans groups, he says, but they were small and informal — "pockets of friends." Other than that, nothing. So he created a website, mainetransnet.org. It featured some basic trans information (see sidebar, "Trans 101") and a list of local resources and links. He also started a support group that met once a month.

Roan had discovered an unmet need. Trans people all around Maine started e-mailing him. He began traveling the state doing "Trans 101" trainings for students in the social-service fields, health-care providers, and members of faith communities. More and more people came to the support group. The organization acquired office space, a board of directors, and an intern. In 2009, Maine Trans Net hosted a trans conference at the University of Southern Maine; 140 people came. In 2010, the count jumped to 170. This year the number of monthly meetings has increased to four: three in Portland (including one just for allies), and one in Bangor. Meetings now routinely have 20 or more participants, with new faces showing up all the time.

Roan has seen dozens of times how information and community help trans folk through the same struggle he faced. "What helps," he says, "is meeting other trans people and talking to them about their experiences, and discovering that we are like any group of people, and discovering, there's no reason why I can't do this." I can corroborate this insight from personal experience. Maine Trans Net was one of the first resources I found online after my gender revelation in late 2008, and when I finally worked up the courage to attend the support group, I found exactly what I needed: acceptance without judgment and answers to my thousand questions. Without the support of this organization and the many friends I have made through it, my trans experience would definitely have been harder and darker.

Crossing the line When an increasingly conservative newspaper company fires an already publicly conservative employee for apparently offending a liberal interest group, it leaves some people scratching their heads.

Jenny Holzer's projections remake buildings Jenny Holzer is not an architect, but in 2004, when she projected those words onto the stone facade of the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan's Times Square, the historic building acquired a character it had never before seen.

LePage's secret bankers Paul LePage was making national headlines last week for all the wrong reasons: telling the NAACP to "kiss my butt" on the eve of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, dismissing the civil-rights organization as a "special interest" he won't be "held hostage" by after its local director expressed concern at his declining to participate in MLK Day events his predecessors had (see more here ).

Anti-diversity is bad for business As he has done with environmental leaders, Governor Paul LePage needs a forum to hear from Maine immigrant and civil-rights leaders. This is made all the more urgent when one considers his "kiss my butt" sound-bite refusal to meet with the NAACP because they are a "special interest."

A hug beats a nod Maine may be the whitest state in the country, but it certainly isn't the straightest.

Review: Weekend This appealing gay-themed drama, written and directed with intelligence by Andrew Haigh, is a British cousin to the American mumblecore movement, as two twentysomething guys meet, have sex, talk, have more sex, have much more chat, and get closer and closer over a long weekend.

The future of contraception Whether your interest is personal — Get me off these hormones! — or policy-related — Global population is growing too fast! — the matters discussed at last month's Future of Contraception Initiative conference in Seattle matter to you.

LIBERATE THYSELF | October 30, 2014 Ride the elevator at 47 Portland Street up one floor and you’ll step out into the chartreuse-walled entryway of Justice In The Body, “a socially responsible education, training, and movement center devoted to integrating well-being, love, justice, and liberation with individuals, groups, and social movements.”

REMEMBERING VICTIMS OF TRANSPHOBIA | November 16, 2011 On Sunday, shortly after dark, a small crowd will gather in the chill of Monument Square for the Portland version of a vigil happening all over the world: the 13th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. Several speakers — some trans, some allied — will address the issues of transphobia and violence against gender-nonconforming people.

TRANS EXPLOSION | October 26, 2011 When a social movement gets its own high-profile celebrity poster child, you know it must be hot.